Friday, September 30, 2005

since the us supreme court has upheld eolas' patent on embedded web apps, do you think this will cause a lot of problems to java-based applications in addition to microsoft's .net applications? i havent followed this thing carefully but it looks like it's too broad a patent in general. any opinions?

Thursday, September 29, 2005

i lost faith in nicholas negroponte and MIT's media lab after their previous antics in india. they set up medialab asia in india at some huge cost to the indian government and then started acting like little imperialists. they didnt have that much to offer and they wanted to dictate terms.

i guess this is why india is not in the list of privileged nations which will get the new rubber laptop. also there is the small matter of $100 million that he wants up front.

negroponte, in my opinion, is a showman. i dont believe this initiative is really going anywhere, but gets lots of publicity.

the simputer is a lot better as an alternative. note that there is no talk of local languages in the negroponte blurb. but i do like the idea of the handcrank, although that is more of a gimmick than anything else. AA batteries are available all over the place. a low power consuming battery operated device would be just fine.

forwarded by a friend. looks like it is a jewish person reviewing bostom's book.

the myth of tolerance in the so-called 'golden age' of mohammedanism, claims the review, is just that -- a myth.

perhaps it was only golden in comparison to the christist inquisition in the same time frame. for instance the portuguese inquisition in goa was the most bloody anywhere.

i like the last bit about history as melodrama. same thing is true in india as well: the noble mohammedan and christist and marxist under attack from all these bad hindus. and in point of fact the poor hindu is just trying to survive.

india is the unfortunate nation that has borne the brunt of both brutal aggressions: mohammedan and christist. and today bearing the brunt of these two, plus marxist aggression.

india must be an especially blessed nation just to survive, when every other civilization perished: egypt, persia, china, druids, incas, aztecs.

as a matter of fact, hindus fought tooth and nail against mohammedans, that's how we survived. although the 'eminent historian'-manufactured textbooks omit this part about the heroic resistance for centuries, in fact it is true. the mohammendans were never quite comfortable in their rule in north india. for centuries vijayanagar as the southern bulwark prevented them from expanding southwards. after the betrayal of vijayanagar by mohammedans in their own army, the marathas and rajputs kept harrying the mohammedans. if mohammedans had been able to consolidate their hold on india, all of it would have become like pakistan -- ethnically cleansed, and all non-mohammedans reduced to dhimmis.

so the simple answer for hindus in regards to both mohammedans and christists: resist! fight back! the barbarians can be overcome. same with regards to marxists. esp in their case, there are good case studies all around how they have been reduced to nothing by the godmen in the vatican in alliance with the CIA. we need to study these and figure out how to liquidate them.

September 28, 2005THE LEGACY OF JIHADThe Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims, Edited by Andrew Bostom, Prometheus Books, 750 pp. $28.Reviewed by Rael Jean Isaac

The famous Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonides, often cited as an example of the fruitful symbiosis of Jewish and Islamic culture, had this to say of Arabs: "The Arabs have persecuted us severely and passed harmful and discriminatory legislation against us...Never did a nation molest, degrade, debase and hate us as much as they."

If this was the assessment even of Maimonides, how then to explain the widespread view of a golden age of Islamic tolerance? In his introduction to this invaluable compendium of source materials on the religious roots of jihad and the impact on those conquered in its holy wars, Ibn Warraq notes how Jews have contributed to the misperception of Islam. He quotes the dean of Middle Eastern studies Bernard Lewis who makes no bones that the golden age of equal rights was an illusion, noting "the myth was invented by Jews in nineteenth-century Europe as a reproach to Christians."

No one who even dips into Bostom's book can maintain a rosy view of Islam's effect on human welfare. For example, Part 6 chronicles the impact of the Islamic conquests in the Near East, Europe, Asia Minor and the Indian subcontinent where Muslim invaders are estimated to have killed an incredible 70 million people over centuries. Everywhere advancing Islam laid waste to hitherto prosperous regions. An enthusiastic description of an attack on an Indian town noted: "The blood of the infidels flowed so copiously that the stream was discoloured and people were unable to drink it...Praise be to Allah." Often the only reason a remnant of the existing population was left alive -- in a state of dhimmitude or outright slavery -- was the fear of Muslim leaders that there would be no one to provide for the basic needs of the jihadists, preventing them from moving on to further conquests. Section 8 provides poignant eyewitness accounts over 1300 years of the cruelty meted out to subject populations in both Asia and Europe.

This volume makes it clear that Islam is a religion whose mission is conquest (and eventual conversion) of the world. When one group of Muslims assumes responsibility for jihad, others are relieved of this duty. It is thus no wonder that radical Muslims believe they act on behalf of the entire umma. Bostom shows that even terror is an old and familiar tool: according to the book The Quranic Concept of War, "Once a condition of terror into the opponent's heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved...Terror is not a means of imposing decision upon the enemy; it is the decision we wish to impose upon him."

But Bostom does more than show the terrible effects of Islamic warfare. Early sections (after his own lengthy and useful overview) offer primary sources -- texts on jihad (holy war as a religious duty) from the Koran and hadiths and subsequent opinions on jihad laid down by Sunni and Shi'ite theologians and jurists. Bostom also provides analyses from early twentieth century scholars of Islam (before the field of Middle Eastern studies was corrupted by the current crop of academic apologists). Much of this material is available here for the first time: Bostom has included hitherto unpublished sources and had a number of essays translated into English from Arabic and Persian as well as from European languages.

All this is the more extraordinary because Bostom is not a scholar of Islam but a medical doctor, a clinical epidemiologist. It has taken a non-specialist, an autodidact, to fill the gap left by scholars whose education has left them with a "trained incapacity" to portray the reality of Islam. Raphael Israeli, professor of Islamic Civilization at the Hebrew University, praises Bostom for being "sensitive and wise enough to tell the essential from the marginal, meticulous enough to reflect the spirit of the texts, thorough enough to understand the sub-texts, and diligent and conscientious enough to leave no stone unturned in his effort to transmit a complete message."

This is not a book that can be read through in one or even several sittings. Above all it is a resource which should be consulted by U.S. and European legislators, policy makers and media opinion-shapers. At present the public is fed what classics professor Bruce Thornton aptly describes as "a reduction of history to a melodrama in which a noble, tolerant, cultured Islamic world has been unjustly attacked by an intolerant, greedy West addled by Christian bigotry and racist stereotypes of bloodthirsty jihadist warriors. All the problems in the Middle East today, in this Orwellian rewriting of history, thus derive not from anything dysfunctional in Islam or Arab regimes but rather in the sins of the West and its Middle Eastern minion, Israel."

There is no better antidote to this nonsense than Andrew Bostom's The Legacy of Jihad.

this appears to be the most comprehensive US grand jury indictment of a catholic parish's pedophilia, coverups and eventual outing of widespread, endemic sexual crimes.

almost unbelievable, well worth archiving.

these are the people who want to teach morals to indians?

these are the respected 'holy fathers' that the indian media and governments are so fawning and obsequious about?

a whole lot of this sort of crime goes on in india but is hushed up. the sister abhaya case where a nun was found drowned in the well of a convent in kerala, is only the tip of the iceberg. when i was in school, one father k was defrocked for sexual abuse of schoolboys. i remember him vividly.

yes, i went to jesuit school, so i have seen the beast up close and personal. and no, i don't feel in the least bit grateful to jesuits, partly because they actively discriminated against me. but there were several lay teachers i liked, and the poor old wheezing principal too and a couple of the priests were good guys.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

of course this sort of stuff never gets any media play. the media is full of idiotic stories about a) whether ganguly should go or stay (answer: dump all nonpeformers) b) whether there is a rift between advani and the rss (answer. it's immaterial)

the serious and important stories, such as the mitrokhin story, are completely buried.

the terrorists in the northeast are christists. the nltf has previously banned durga puja.

if they dont like bengalis, isn't it strange they are shooting at only hindu bengalis? why? are they scared of mohammedan retaliation if they kill mohammedan illegal immigrants from bangladesh? they must be. hindus are soft targets, the 'secular' governments will do nothing if hindus are killed.

in kerala, when there was a communal riot at poovar where christists torched mohammedan houses, the government immediately rebuilt the houses.

but for hindus affected by the tsunami, the oommen chandy government did not rebuild houses, actively prevented the amrita ashmam from doing so, all so that christist 'charities' could come in and do some conversion.

christists are as fanatic and destructive as mohammedans, but they are more subtle and market themselves much better. mohammedans destroy cultures by fire and sword, christists do by theft and strangulation.

indian culture was severely affected by mohammedans in the 1100-1700 CE timeframe, and is under severe threat from christists now.

I'm a big fan of your columns in rediff. Here a few links on the atrocitiesby the christian terrorists in Northeast. I thought they would be helpfulespecially the second link where the militants targeted Hindus.

india is getting to be flavor of the month in all sorts of unexpected places. given all the fuss made over china one would think it's just leaving india in the dust. not quite, apparently. india's 50th, china is 49th in the world according to the world economic forum, in competitiveness.

it is such a good thing for jindal as well as for indian-americans that jindal did not become the governor of louisiana!

imagine the headlines if he had screwed up with katrina like kathleen blanco did:

"brown guy messes up"

"incompetent hindu" (of course for purposes of abuse all indians are hindus, even though bobby j is a 'born-again' christist and a loud one at that)

"bloody indians. first they steal our jobs. now they let our people die. where's the nearest tree and a big rope?"

"send the brown immigrant guy back to wherever he came from"

"let's open a concentration camp and put all the brown people in it (as we did to the japanese)"

"if only we had a good strong white guy as governer (like good old huey long)"

hard for them to say this sort of stuff about a native cajun (?) white female like kathleen blanco. thank you, blanco, for being the fall gal for all brown people. of course you won only because you were running against a brown guy, so this is sweet irony. god does have a sense of humor.

we would have been reading about the 'short, happy life of bobby jindal' otherwise (with apologies to ernest hemingway).

i mentioned this before. it is part of a jihad for tamil nadu's glory by the dmk types.

the part about the destruction of what is believed to be rama's bridge by hindus does not enter into the picture at all. naturally. hindus after all have no power to preserve things that are important to them.

the large-scale dredging there will result in unpredictable side-effects. much like all the US Army Corps of Engineers dredging and straightening of rivers and whatnot in the Mississippi Delta and in Florida have created huge problems. this is why i am skeptical about the river-linking project too. i'm afraid we'll open up a pandora's box.

in terms of setting up a trans-shipment container terminal, the best bet would have been vizhinjam, with its draft of 56 feet. instead, the christian govt of oommen chandy got it moved to the christian-dominated town of cochin. there should be no investment in southern kerala because there are hindus there, naturally. the big investments should go to southern tamil nadu or central kerala because that's where the christians are, and of course the dmk is a christian construction. vizhinjam getting the container terminal would have made a lot of sense: it is 300 nautical miles closer to the international shipping lanes in the arabian sea than cochin is.

neither cochin nor tuticorin has a big comparative advantage when it comes to deep water suitable for large container ships. i seriously doubt if after dredging and destroying rama's bridge, there will be any benefit at all to tuticorin. colombo and trincomalee both are far better ports than tuticorin.

you may think there's an element of regional bias here, and you will be right. however, the basic points are correct. sethusamudram is an ecological and archaelogical disaster in the making.

i guarantee we can soon expect a story about this happening to large numbers of very young women in india as well. after all, this is the nytimes. they will say it is because of caste and dowry. if it is happening among mohammedans because they marry very young, the nytimes will not point that the religion factor, but will insist that it has to do with 'caste'. here in nigeria's case, it is mostly a mohammedan country, especially up north.

i hear you, santhosh, about how disappointing benares is. it is a living monument to how much hinduism has been hurt and continues to be hurt by semitic types of all kinds. i have heard this from various people.

as you mentioned, it is ill-maintained and quite disgusting in places. it is a matter of money not being spent. i remember the story of the dedicated mahant, who was head of the IT-BHU's civil engineering department as well, who has spent years trying to clean up the ganges. there is not enough money being spent on it. all the money in india goes to the benefit of semitic types.

read diana eck's 'banaras: city of light' and you will see how the mohammedans have destroyed almost all the great temples and built mosques on top. for instance, the biggest temple, bindu madhava, has been completely razed by i think aurangzeb. the gyan vapi mosque is another example where the old temple walls can be seen clearly.

and today, the up leaders vie with each other to appease mohammedans. and take money from the temples and give it to madrassas.

see also, however, the ray trilogy film set in benares. i think it's apur sansar. it captures benares beautifully.

i have used palm devices for some years, and have admired the tiny os (20k?). now they are moving to windows mobile which must be 200mb in size. i wonder if they can get this to work. so here's microsoft yet again exhibiting its ability to be a fast follower and to steal a march over the innovator.

i think the handheld pda is on its way out, and will be subsumed by cellphones.

how all this affects the blackberry and various 'blackberry-killers' in development remains to be seen

is this fallout from the iran affair, a crumb being thrown india's way via the yanks?

iran is apparently pissed at india, or so claims the bbc (which of course is run by pakistanis, so it's hard to take them at face value). as i have been asking, what exactly has iran done for india lately? offered to sell gas? cajoled india to agree to that stupid pipeline through pakistan?

despite mani shankar aiyar's desperate oil and gas deals, i dont think india really needs to panic and give into blackmail. india's ties with iran are based on long-term interests in containing the pak murderers, the isi-taliban. a small hiccup here and there doesn't matter.

san and anonymous, i think this iran thing is not a life-and-death issue for india. so the best thing to do would have been to keep quiet. but no, that foreign minister had to shoot his mouth off and some idiot congressman (alas, from the sf bay area) had to show he had a big mouth, too.

arvind kumar's sensible and objective op-ed that i posted yesterday makes the most sense.

iran is not india's best pal; any NAM rhetoric about helping other non-aligned nations is worth greeting with derisive laughter. what exactly has iran done for india in the recent past? it signed supplier agreements with india (and with china) partly because nobody else would buy from them.

india just did a relatively cost-free thing in supporting the iaea censure of iran. by abstaining, russia and china (remember the sino-islamic axis?) have signalled they will veto any security council action against iran. so what india says about iran in the iaea isn't going to have much of an impact. and by not thumbing our noses at the yanks, we have prevented the non-proliferation ayatollahs from having a quick and easy point to beat india with.

in other words, this was not bad diplomacy. those who rail against it are doing it for the following reasons:

a. marxists because it is good for india's national interest, and therefore the marxists obviously have to oppose it b. mohammedan-appeasers for obvious reasons c. bjp because this is a good stick to beat the upa with

and anonymous, you should get yourself a name to differentiate yourself. your ranting about the neo-cons kind of shows you to be a semitic fundamentalist, because you clearly are not able to distinguish nuance: there are many shades of grey. nobody is saying india should love the neo-cons. one should hold one's nose and deal with them because they are temporary alliances one makes with the less-than-savory. and dump them as soon as they become a liability.

thanks guys for the feedback. yes, the 'ads by goooogle' on the left: do click on them. it results in some pocket money for me, or so google leads me to believe, i haven't seen any money yet (reminds me of 'charlie macguire' and 'show me the money'). thanks to those who are clicking. :-)

oh, so blogspot does not provide for tags. too bad, guess i can't do that.

creating my own website is something i have toyed with for some time, but i prefer the simplicity and spontaneity of the blog format. so i have to figure out what to do. one possibility is to cut down the topics of interest to one or two, but that sounds so... boring :-)

re. things that record in mp3 format, i have seen creative, rio and other mp3 players (flash-based) for $75 or so at fry's electronics in palo alto. they play mp3, do voice recording, and have fm tuners, but they tend to consume aaa batteries.

by the way, i am consumed with envy about the ipod nano. does anyone on this blog have one of the black ones? how is it? i hear the screen gets scratched up easily. i have a lowly ipod shuffle which is great for my limited music needs and podcast listening. can't beat the form factor and weight! but i might upgrade one of these days. i am not an early adopter.

randhir asked me some time ago what my itunes playlists were. not very avant-garde, i'm afraid:

podcasts: kqed forum

indian music: 100's of malayalam film songs a few hindustani ragas from nikhil chakrabarty, ravi sankar et al

devotional: the entire bhagavad gita chants of shiva from the banks of the ganges chants of buddha

btw, i found an interesting podcast named a moment of yoga by some san francisco yoga teacher with an american name. the cover art for this was a krishna picture, that's how it caught my eye. the podcast is not great, but not bad. all about yoga.

this is what i have been saying about google's relentless drive towards web services.

do you think the computer industry is about to see a paradigm shift that dethrones the wintel duopoly? if google can get the web services, on-demand paradigm going that means nobody will upgrade to the latest and greatest PCs just because microsoft comes out with a new os. that means the end of microsoft's fat cash pile and intel's cushy margins.

by the way, i am doing some research on innovation, and i claim that microsoft is extremely innovative on business models, but not at all so on technological innovation. so far as i can tell, just about the only big thing that they have fully created themselves is the xbox, and maybe .net. most of their big hits (dos, word, excel, powerpoint) they acquired from other companies they bought. do you have a different opinion?

Sunday, September 25, 2005

sounds interesting, if high-priced. why can't some of you guys do something along these lines with a digital audio recorder and put it out there as free mp3/podcasts? i guess all you need is a small, unobtrusive mp3 player from the likes of creative labs which also does recording. alas, my ipod doesn't do that so i'll have to go buy some new device. any suggestions?

i seriously need to get my podcast blog going. that is another project that has been put aside for reasons of laziness, but it's quite easy to do. audacity seems to do a fair job of creating mp3s.

re. comments on me keeping a single blog with different tags for technology and economics, will someone kindly tell me how to do this with blogspot? a reference to a specific FAQ or RTFM would be fine. i realize that i am kind of dumping everything that i read about, including

into this single blog, and that makes it kind of a grab-bag. i'll try the tag business and see how it works. if i'm not happy with it, i may still end up making multiple blogs. but you guys should cooperate and get me some adsense bucks. click on those darn ads, dammit! :-)

i remember seeing a comment somewhere that shabana azmi said 15% of indians believed india and pak had nothing in common, and she bemoaned that.

she was confused. in fact it is the opposite. 15% of indians believe india and pak have someything in common. that is the 12% of the population who are mohammedan, plus the 3% of the population that has been bought by saudi arabia or china. you know them. the punjabi fans of mushaira who pine for lahore, the good folks who bring you china's national newspaper in india, and so forth.

this is the kind of head-up-their-butt analysis the atlanticist non-proliferation ayatollahs (what is the female version of an ayatollah? maybe robin raphel or shabana azmi?) in the us will be bombarding the US congress with, to convince it that india, not china, is the real threat to the us. some of these 'analysts' are surely being sustained by chinese funding.

"china is a distant strategic threat to india" claims this bimbo. and poor china, which has capped its fissile materials, is being forced into an arms-race by india and may be forced to stockpile new fissile materials!

i once saw the tarkovsky movie "solaris", which details a bizarre sentient planet which plays mind games with the people on a spacecraft orbiting it, for instance sending strange beings manufactured from people's memories into the spacecract. one guy finds his dead wife, who committed suicide, suddenly appearing on board.

this article reminds me of that situation: this bimbo and others like her are playing mind-games based on a manufactured reality.

the reality is that it is *china* that is threatening to send nukes to the us, from its 17,000 foot launch pad, that is colonized tibet. to which it is rapidly building a railway line, on which it will be able to hide its missile launchers.

as for the wonders of economic cooperation between india and china, in plain fact, all china-india trade is of the following type: india sells its raw materials cheap to china, which value adds them and sells them back to india, or uses them in its military buildup. not exactly a shining example of a win-win situation. but the indian pols on the chinese payroll (there is someone who wants to get hydrocarbons to india for china's benefit!) make big money on these transactions.

Expectedly, this led to an acrimonious response from the Indian government.

While Congressman Lantos' complaint is certainly genuine, what is ofconcern is his statement that they "really don't care about what we think" assumes that Indians always ought to behave in a mannerbeneficial to Americans, while Americans can do what they please.

American support for avowed Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia andPakistan is in the same league as India's support for Iran. Such support hurts innocent people and American self-interest is no excusefor allying with those who indulge in gross violation of human rightsand show scant regard for individual liberty. Thus, while Lantos'complaint is valid, it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

It is true that Congress I, the political party to which India'sForeign Minister belongs, swears by Nehruvian-Stalinism and onceshared a close relationship with Josef Stalin. Therefore, "Stalinist rhetoric" is expected behavior from the Foreign Minister. Indians inAmerica realize that they are economic refugees who escaped the harshconditions imposed by the Stalinist economic system in India, andappreciate that they got the opportunity to unleash their entrepreneurial spirit in America.

Yet, most Indians do not approve of American foreign policy,especially its aggressive nature and its support for various dictatorsand Islamic theocracies, as these go against the principles of non-violence. It has pained Indians in the bay area and elsewherewhenever Americans have displayed one standard for themselves whileholding others to another standard.

Americans have routinely rationalized, often with a straight face, their support for violent regimes and occasionally even terrorists,and explained it away as a necessary situation to further theirobjectives. This assumes that others exist in order to furtherAmerican interests, even if it means that they die in the process of enriching Americans. Americans also have been guilty of supportingIndian Marxists and recently appointed a prominent Marxist from Indiato one of the chairs in the Library of Congress. Thus, the complaintabout "Stalinist rhetoric" by Congressman Lantos sounds a bit insincere.

For its part, India's vote-bank politics has meant that it hasextended support to Islamist states such as Iran, and framed itsdomestic policies to appease its Muslim population even if it meant trampling on women's rights and hurting people of other religionsincluding the religion of the majority of its people. During the coldwar, India's politicians also reduced it to a satellite state of theCommunist bloc. Thus, the complaint against India is not completely out of place.

While India must cease to support Islamists and move away fromStalinism, America too should stop profiting by supporting violentregimes. Until then, criticism by American policy makers cannot be taken seriously. If American politicians acted in a manner consistentwith their rhetoric, stopped being aggressive, and withdrew support toviolent regimes, Congressman Lantos and his colleagues would find that they would have many admirers and earn the respect of everyone aroundthe world.

Arvind Kumar is an immigrant from India who lives in the United States.

reason: most of them were in the payroll of the russians. most of them are in the payroll of the chinese, the vatican, the baptists, or the saudis today.

the media is the most venal institution in the country, even more so than politicians. at least the latter do not put on airs about their alleged integrity: they admit they are dirty, rotten scoundrels.

so godman ratzinger admits many of his priests are gay and takes steps to reduce the chances of them sodomizing little boys and the legal problems arising therefrom.

this is a bizarre report: if you read between the lines, the vatican does not approve of homosexuality theologically speaking, but acknowledges that a number of its priests are homosexuals, and blames this on the unnatural environment of male-only seminaries (or should that be 'semen'-aries?).

why not just come out and admit that forced celibacy in the company of men is unnatural? why not let your priests get married and have sex with women instead of tempting them to run after choir-boys? (not that that has helped the baptist sinners -- remember jimmy swaggart, the bakkes, and so forth, who have wives, getting caught with cheap prostitutes).

interesting indeed that mohammedans like boys too (the reward for martyrs is 72 female virgins, or if that is your preference, 28 young boys). so do christists, although they prefer their reward on earth rather than waiting for heaven -- all those tempting young altar-boys, you know. instant gratification in sodomy.

all this misogyny must have something to do with the 'holy land'. are all women in the west asia desert coyote-ugly? (sort of like all those muscular truck-driver soviet women used to scare the men off).

this is good news. the publishing of scientific papers has been cartelized so that unless you are from the atlanticist princeton/harvard/yale/mit or stanford/berkeley/caltech circles you couldnt get your stuff printed in a refereed journal. a clear old boy network dominated by white males.

maybe this liberalization will help others get their research ideas published. one more instance of disintermediation and supply chain shortening by the internet, a truly disruptive technology.

i am also pleased because i have been getting more and more concerned about the stultifying effect of the current IPR regimen including patents that the west is trying to force down the throats of the rest of the world. the loss of control over scientific publishing is a good first baby step: eventually this may erode the IPR paradigm as well.

another piece of good news recently: the arch-atlanticist ny times is hurting. they are laying off some 10% of their staff as ad revenues are drying up (thank you, google, for sucking up ad revenue onto the net). similarly, the nyt made a disastrous decision to start charging people to read kristof, friedman, dowd, et al, ie. their top columnists. this simply means people online will stop reading kristof, friedman, dowd, et al -- it doesn't mean the nyt will suddenly get lots of online subscriptions. in other words, kristof, friedman, dowd, et al lose their audience.

this is all excellent news: the increasing power of the web and blogs as news and opinion-disseminators.

now if only the people reading my blog would go click on the google adsense ads so that i get some cash out of it as well for my pains! not enough do. sigh :-( i guess i have to wait for you all to buy my books if and when they get published.

this is truly intriguing. opus dei is a shadowy organization (like jesuits but more secretive) that the godmen in the vatican use as their storm troops.

and *they* run a top business school! no wonder the conversion blitzkriegs are so meticulously planned.

if you remember i had commented some time ago that the vatican is the world's oldest, largest, and most profitable multinational company. also the most ruthless. microsoft, eat your heart out. i said this in the context of the saint jamborees being truly outstanding marketing events creating much value out of nothing, sort of as my old southern friend of the picturesque speech used to say, "perfuming the pig".

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

an interesting book that throws a different spin on google: it is the 'networking computing' compay.

eric schmidt was head of network computing at sun some time ago. if google can re-create the 'network is the computer' mantra from sun's glory days, that would be sweet vindication for schmidt. google is now becoming a web services company, and all the recent VC money is going into a) open source b) web services c) voip/video

no wonder google has just raised $4 billion through an IPO. this is a big war-chest for offering google-branded wifi access all over the us, after buying up dark fiber.

one chapter of this book is free to download. worth reading. the whole book (interestingly the book is only available in pdf for download) costs too much money to buy, some $180.

btw, i am planning to start a new technology blog and separate it from the shadow warrior stuff.

forwarded by a friend. send it on to your various friends, anybody who thinks communism is not compatible with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

how about a campaign to deny sandeep pandey a visa to the us? no harm in allying with the foaming-at-the-mouth christist fundies for a good cause like this. just remember that said foamers are not your friends, only temporary allies.

i wonder exactly how much money sandeep pandey has been getting from a) pakistan, b) china.

the AID guy who poses as 'maoputra' (he's a geeky indian graduate student somewhere) on this blog must be upset: some of his funds for buying AK-47s may be in jeopardy if the US govt starts keeping an eye on these people.

i wish i understood genetics better, but more and more of the data points to the aryan invasion being a complete myth.

=====================DNA, genetics and population dynamics: debunking the aryan invasion propaganda

Dr. Chandrakant Panse

Summary: The so-called Aryan invasion, an idea designed to divide the Hindus of Northern and Southern Bharat, was never supported by anyconcrete evidence and yet was elevated to the stature of a theory. Ithas been pushed in secondary school textbooks as a dogma. Science now conclusively rejects any notion of any Aryan invasion of the Indiansubcontinent.

I. Background

Study of changes (mutations, insertions) in chromosomal DNA is verydifficult due to its magnitude. In humans, the egg contains 22 chromosomes plus the X sex chromosome, and the sperm has similar 22plus either the X or the Y sex chromosome. An XX combination in theembryo ensues a female, and an XY a male. There are some 3 billionDNA base pairs in the 46 chromosomes in a human cell. Studying changes as markers in only the Y chromosome can be simpler, but tracesonly the male ancestry.

Cells contain mitochondria, structures where oxygen is utilized. Amitochondrion has its own DNA, only 16,569 base pairs long, and entirely independent of the chromosomal DNA. Following mutations inthe mtDNA is thus significantly easier, but traces only femaleancestry as the mitochondria are descendants of the egg, with nocontribution from the sperm.

Attempts at linking of populations through insertions of repeatsequences are underway (1), but call for abundant caution becausesampling errors, numbers of markers employed, choices of markers,statistical models selected for analysis, etc., influence the results of such studies (2). More importantly, polymorphism (differentalleles, or slightly different forms of the same gene) subjected tolocal positive selection can result in convergent evolution, thereverse also holds true, and these can lead to abnormal conclusions regarding histories of populations (2). Attempts to demonstratesimilarities amongst Asian and European gene pools not only sufferfrom such drawbacks in spite of vigorous statistical analysis, butalso can be explained by multiple mechanisms (3).

II. North & South Bharatiyas Share mtDNA, Which Is Distinct From Thatof Europeans

Extensive sequencing and statistical analysis of a part of mtDNA whichhas sustained mutations (the mitochondrial hypervariable region I, HVR I), from reasonable sample sizes, has shown that certain sequencesdominant in Europe are uncommon in India, and when found, are almostequally divided amongst the North and South Indians. Conversely,there are sequences common to both the North and South Indians which are uncommon in Europe (4). These data have been used to estimate thetime of diversion of the peoples of Europe and Asia in thePleistocenic era (4), emphasizing that these are phylogenicallydifferent peoples (5).

All diploid human cells express a set of proteins on their surfaces,HLA-A, B and C, which are unique to an individual. They are coded for in the major histocompatibility complex of genes (MHC class I) onchromosome 6. These are the proteins which are recognized as non-selfby the immune system in transplant rejection, and are variously called transplant antigens, phynotypic markers, cell-surface markers, etc.All of these proteins in all persons have identical structures andfunctions, yet can be distinguished from others. Not all 6 class Iantigens (3 each from paternal and maternal copies of chromosomes 6) may be unique to an individual; some are identical or similar. MHCclass II proteins (DP, DQ, DR) are expressed by some immune systemcells only, but may be even more polymorphic.

Analysis of the DNA sequences coding for the different forms of these proteins (alleles) demonstrate that while populations which areclosely related, geographically or through known migrations, showsimilarities in their class I and II MHC antigens, the Asians and theEuropeans are distinct, separate but equal, peoples.

Conclusion: The stark lack of similarities in the gene pools of theIndian subcontinent and Europe, vividly evident in the mtDNA and theMHC complex, destroys any >Aryan invasion= notions, and confirms the genetic uniformity of peoples of the Indian subcontinent.

now that their pals run the upa government, chinese mandarins feel free to order indians around.

like the mitrokhin archive, there must be archives somewhere documenting the large amounts of money given to marxists and maoists by china.

in this context, interesting comment by EMS namboodiripad during the 1962 india-china war: he was concerned that people "confuse patriotism with bourgeois nationalism". that is, forget the nation of india, let's all be patriotic to china. of course, he and the other marxists practiced and continue to practice what they preach.

The Dharma Rain Centre, a recently formed organization was today Sadvisedand pressured by the Deputy Consul-General of China at Mumbai to cancel a public meeting being organized by the Centre, A group engaged in promoting theunderstanding of various spiritual traditions, including Buddhism.

Though it is unconventional to address a Press Release in the first person, I am afraid that this is the only way in which I, the founder-member andSecretary of this organization, can do justice in narrating theunconventional, unwarranted, illegal and shocking interference by a senior member of the Chinese diplomatic corps of China, in the affairs of aprivate organization in India, and thereby in the way Indian citizens conductthemselves in their religious, social and political life.

When the Deputy Consul General Mr. Song, rang me up on my cell phone as Iwas on my way out of Mumbai on a retreat, I thought he was genuinely interestedin knowing details about the public talk that the Ven. Geshe Lhakdor-la, (a senior and experienced Tibetan Lama, official translator to the Dalai Lamaand Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives) is scheduled togive on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at 6.30 pm at the Rama Watumall Auditorium in the K.C. College premises. His topic is "CombiningHead and Heart: Wisdom and Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism". However, havingverified who he was speaking to, he bluntly said he wanted us to cancel the program as this was political interference in the affairs of China.

Despite all my efforts to convince him that this was not a political topicor a political meeting, he insisted the speaker had close ties with the Dalai Lama who was using India as base for anti-China activities. At this point,I had to politely remind him that this was India, a democratic country unlikeChina, and we had every right to conduct any meeting, religious, political or otherwise. I reminded him that the Dalai Lama was one of the world's mostrespected leaders, and as an Indian I was proud that India had given himsanctuary and the opportunity to save his country's religion and culture, despite its illegal occupation by China. Mr. Song then decided to take amore personal angle and asked me what was my relationship with the 'Friends ofTibet (India).'

It will be recalled that last year, as a result of similar interference and pressure by the Chinese embassy and consulate, the Asian Film Festival wasforced to withdraw a retrospective section on Tibet, from the filmsscreened.At that time, I was the spokesperson for Friends of Tibet and he was obviously referring to that. I reminded him that I was the same person whohad spoken to the BBC (The World Today) about that disgusting and obnoxiousepisode. I have informed him that we support not only Friends of Tibet, but all Tibet activists around the world. We may not always agree with everyonebut we shall always defend their right to say what they wish and the mannerin which they wish to say it.

We call upon all freedom loving individuals and organizations to protest this extra-territorial influence and 'diplomatic license' that the Chinesediplomatic corps here in India is deluded into thinking it possesses. Ihave suggested to Mr. Song that instead of wasting his time and energy with activists like me, and bullying and terrorizing small organizations likethe Dharma Rain Centre and the Friends of Tibet, he should quickly get round tonegotiating with the Dalai Lama and maybe then we can all sing a different Song. A song of Universal Responsibility and World Peace.

And of course, the meeting is on. Do come in large numbers.Mr. Song is also invited. If you wish to speak to him and convey yourfeelings his telephone number is 022- 56324304.

bit strange, imf ranting and raving about india at the exact time that:

a) the beleagured and benighted foreign minister essentially breaks off relations with america over iran. couldnt the blighter just keep his big mouth shut and be inscrutable? but no! he has to pontificate

b) the detailed mitrokhin report about widespread corruption reminds us all of that simple but terrifiying word: treason. what these marxists and nehruvian stalinists have done is treasonous.

yet, the imf thinks india is 'doing good'. i smell a rat. is this the carrot from the us along with the stick being applied to natwar singh's bottom?

Monday, September 19, 2005

this man is interesting. he's a china booster, but his indian wife died in a chinese hospital because of chinese racism. they didn't pay attention to her because of her race. (martin jacques told me this himself, and you can google for more details).

the idea that the end of colonialism and the end of the colonial plunder was very key is useful to reiterate ad nauseam.

we should also be asking for massive reparations a la chinese blackmail of japan.

"This major power seems to know it has major problems. If faced with a countervailing equilibrium it will probably act prudently. It surely realises that others - US, Japan, Russia, India - have a variety of reasons for denying China the opportunity to be a 21st century Middle Kingdom. In Beijing and Shanghai and Xian, I find less talk of China being near to eclipsing the US than I find at Harvard and the Australian National University. China may not be the new colossus it seems to either its enemies or its distant worshippers."

Sunday, September 18, 2005

rahul ji was of course born to be prime minister. 25 or 45, makes no difference.

i don't want midnight knocks on my door when i am in india, so i shall make no further comments. it's safer to bash bush and co than the dynasty in india.

yes, fortunately subhash kak and family are quite safe from hurricane katrina aftereffects.

the mitrakhin report should not amaze anybody. it is abundantly clear that everyone in india is on the take. selling the country to foreigners is a long and honored occupation among the jaichands and mir jafars who haunt delhi. i tend to believe the report is correct in essence.

what is more worrisome is not what happened in the 1970s but what's happening now, *today* as the chinese, the vatican, the baptists, and saudi arabia have bought up large sections of india's 'leaders'.

i am also watching the manmohan singh-musharraf circus in washington dc. why is anyone surprised that musharraf is doing what he always does? he wants india to give kashmir to him, period. he isn't going to stop terrorism or proliferation or any of his other games. the reason is that there is no pain, and plenty of gain, for him in his mischief. to make him stop, he must be provided with salutary *pain*. i have heard some ideas from various pak-watchers for doing this, and these would be cheap, effective, highly painful for musharraf (and all his pals in the ISI), and would discourage him from more mischief. if we did any one of them, he'd strut around a lot less. tinpot dictators have their weak points; we simply have to apply pressure there. of course, i am not going to post these ideas on a public forum like this.

the sad part is, musharraf knows, and we know, that the indian politician is so corrupt he'd never do these things. he can be bought off quite easily, every last one of them. and for probably very little money, as well.

whites want to unilaterally abrogate their treaties with maoris. this they did happily in the us too, and screwed the native americans left and right. whites of british descent are particuarly prone to do this. a treaty with them is not worth the paper it is written on.

Friday, September 16, 2005

the death of at&t startled me, but the baby bells seem to have survived. i guess the last mile is the key leverage point.

wonder what is the key leverage point in it services. if indian companies can figure this out, they can reign supreme. otherwise i'm afraid they are going to be blind-sided by other, nimble competitors, a little like sony has been sandbagged by samsung.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

when the history of the computer industry is written one day, steve jobs will hold a stellar place in it, in my opinion: he has done far more than many others, including bill gates and michael dell, to make the industry such an indispensable part of modern life.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

poor russians, they'll sell their mother to the devil these days. and they are in fact doing just that.

we have seen lately several good illustrations of the dictum of permanent interests but not permanent friends:

1. israel making cooing noises with musharraf 2. russia making eyes with china

meanwhile, india's 'leaders' seem congenitally incapable of understanding that a) there's such a thing as india's national interests, and that doesn't mean china's or saudi arabia's or the vatican's interests b) it is okay to discard allies like used condoms when they are no longer useful c) india is no longer a banana republic for whom it's fine to run around playing footsie with minnows. as a major power it had better act like a major power, not be someone's patsy

Between the dates of August 18-25, 2005, Russia and China participated in their first ever bilateral war games, dubbed Peace Mission 2005. The games were symbolic of the growing cooperation between the two powerful states. Since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, which led to an increasingly influential role for Washington in Central Asia, Moscow and Beijing have drawn together under the common interest of preventing further U.S. influence in the region.

Their mutual interest formed after a series of "colored revolutions" in the region; these revolutions weakened Russian influence in its near abroad and concerned China that an intensified U.S. role in Central Asia would lead to regional instability in an area that Beijing hopes to exploit for energy resources. For instance, China National Petroleum Corporation is expected to win a bid for the Canadian energy company PetroKazakhstan, which holds oil reserves in Kazakhstan and owns a major refinery there. [See: "Economic Brief: China's Energy Acquisitions"]

A number of advanced warships will gradually come into service in the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (P.L.A.N.) in the next two years. The bulk of these ships will belong to two new guided missile destroyer classes called 052B and 052C. The 052C will be fitted with an advanced integrated air defense system, supposedly similar to the U.S. Aegis phased-array radar display, with a high capability to engage multiple targets simultaneously.

A Special Task Force constituted by the HRD Ministry has proposed that students who secure 60 per cent in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) will be eligible for admission to IITs from next year.

However, there would be a relaxation of five per cent of marks for the students belonging to SC/STs.

The JEE conducted for admission to IITs would continue to be the sole criteria for admission in IITs and other participating institutes, an official release said today.

The JEE would be a single objective type examination which could include short write-ups on various topics followed by objective questions based on the write up.

This would test the comprehension as well as the analytical ability of the students, the release said.

Reducing stress level

The students would also be allowed to write the JEE in the year in which he/she passes the Class X11 examination and/or in the following year.

But those who join any of the IITs would not be allowed to sit for the JEE again. The procedure would be reviewed after the JEE 2006, the release said.

Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh had convened a meeting of eminent educationists on March 24.

The purpose of the meeting was to initiate a dialogue for building a national consensus on issues related to reducing the high stress level among students appearing for Board and entrance examinations.

As a result of these discussions, a Special Task Force was constituted by the Directors of IITs to evaluate the process of the IIT-JEE.

The recommendations of the Task Force were deliberated upon by the Standing Committee of the IIT Council, chaired by Prof C N R Rao.

Reforms recommended

After due deliberations the Standing Committee recommended certain reforms in JEE for IITs from 2006.

The recommendation of the Standing Committee has been approved by the Minister as Chairman of the IIT Council.

From the JEE 2006 onwards, the screening test would be done away with and the results of the Class XII board examination would be factored in the admission process of the IITs.

This would also restore the sanctity of school system and reduce the influence of the coaching classes, it said. (With PTI inputs)

Sunday, September 11, 2005

why do i say 'south india'? i have noticed my parents use this as part of their mailing addresses all along: eg. kollam, kerala, s. india. so i guess i have been using it as a habit.

there are some differences between north and south india, of course. south india is full of madrasis and north india is full of biharis :-)

i jest, no offence meant. but i found the best way to cure northies of their tendency to call all southies 'madrasis' was to call them all 'biharis'. very salutary, instant impact :-)

i will make an observation and a conjecture on the reasons for the difference. the difference may lie in the level of civilizational destruction. mohammedans did not make as much of an impact on the south, and therefore did not wound the civilization as much. for instance, it is remarkable that the classical dances of india are:

a) bharat natyam -- south

b) kathakali -- south

c) kuchipudi -- south

d) odissi -- southeast

e) kathak -- north

f) manipuri -- east

what this suggests is that in the entire area where the mohammedan impact was felt most strongly, ie. the indo-gangetic plain, dance ceased to exist under puritanical mohammedan rule. dance was pushed to the fringes, to areas where mohammedans were not so powerful. (kathak was entertainment for noblemen, so it was allowed to survive, i guess, like geishas in japan).

similarly all the other arts were extinguished; learning and erudition too. after the great universities of the north were decimated, indian sciences only flourished in vijayanagar and further south (eg. the kerala school of astronomy and mathematics).

the impact of vijayanagar in shielding the south for those crucial centuries during barbaric sultanate rule in the north has never been fully appreciated. in essence, vijayanagar allowed indic civilization to survive.

fast forward to the present. the survival of the civilization is the reason that the south is ahead on almost every parameter. again, note that the most backward parts of the south are those where mohammedan populations have the most impact: northern karnataka, parts of andhra pradesh, malabar in kerala.

this is not surprising, as mohammedanism forces one to eschew change and modernity. this is why the entire arab world has not created even one important idea since 700 CE. the only thing the arabs did that was worthwhile was to preserve and transmit indic and greek ideas eg. in mathematics and astronomy during the time that europe was (under the sway of mohammedanism's twin, christism) even more benighted, although that *is* hard to imagine. i cannot think of *one* original arab invention in the sciences or in art, if one neglects the art of belly-dancing.

so is the south different? heck, yes. is the south different enough to secede? heck, no. although some neo-semitic 'dravidianists' in their imperial fantasies think they want to lead southerners to some sort of 'dravida-land'. unfortunately for them, no non-tamil has the slightest interest in this brain-dead idea of 'dravidianism', and even among tamils, only a small minority of christism-brainwashed people believe in this ('dravidianism' is a creation of christists intent on conversion and divide-and-rule). there is no such thing as 'dravidian' or 'aryan': this is a colonial invention.

On 9/7/05, Vijay A wrote:

Hi Rajiv,

I am a first time writer to you, but a long time reader of your writings. It is such a pleasure to read your articles and blogs. I came across this piece:

Here, you refer to Marad as being in "Kerala, South India." I have been thinking about these terms "North India" and "South India" for a while. Would it be more accurate to use northern India and southern India instead? After all, these are not (yet!) separate countries like North Korea and South Korea. Do you think it could promote the feeling of unity and oneness of India, and make a geographical area seem just that - a part of the whole?

Keep up your "Shadow Warrior" project. I enjoy browsing through it.

Thanks for making lives of Hindus easier with your clear answers, explanations, retorts, and dismissals of misnomers and myths. Your work reminds me of Sitaram Goel of "Voice Of India" ( www.voi.org), who fought an intellectual battle with the 4 diseases afflicting India and Hindu society, namely Christianism, Islamism, Secularism/Macauleyism, and Marxism.

today i listened to a podcast from kqed forum on whether the atomic bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki were necessary to end the world war or not. some of the experts claimed it was; the japanese-americans on the panel thought it wasn't. there was a lot of talk about how truman wanted to force the japanese to surrender unconditionally so that the americans could dismantle the militaristic regime there, and make the emperor nothing but a figurehead. the idea was tossed around that america had been so traumatized by pearl harbor that it was seeking revenge in any way possible.

eerie thought: perhaps one of these days al-qaeda supporters will suggest that 9/11 was a necessary act to end the 'war against mohammedanism' being waged by the americans. if america withdraws from iraq, that would be a prophetic statement, because the mohammedans would have won unconditionally.

another odd thought: why aren't the americans equally concerned about deposing the imperialist rulers of saudi arabia, who are funding mohammedan terrorism everywhere, thus posing a direct threat to america? why isn't 9/11 turning into american trauma against the saudis? instead of saudis, why are the americans attacking afghans and iraqis? why these double standards?

is this a symptom of imperial overstretch, or is it oil-money speaking, or is it that the state dept is not so clever after all? who knows?

so when mohammedan saudis attack and kill 3000 or so americans, they feel justified in going out and killing 20,000 or so afghans and iraqis in state-sanctioned retaliation. why isn't the same standard applied to gujarat if the killing of 59 hindus led to the killing of 750 mohammedans in state-abetted retaliation?

or is it just that white people are allowed to do these things? after all, world war II concentration camps and the atomic bomb were reserved for asian japanese, not european germans. and the japanese enemy was the 'japs', the japanese people, while the german enemy was the 'nazis', only those in the administration. the 'japs' were potrayed as bugs and roaches, inhuman, subhuman vermin. germans were not. one standard for white people, another for asians.

similarly, when indians are killed by terrorists, india has to take that in stride. but when white americans are killed, it is a big deal. by the way, when black americans die like flies in new orleans, that's not a big deal, either.

really, what has happened to america's moral compass? is the process of decay so far gone? it used to be a country that shone like a beacon, or so we thought. new orleans was certainly an eye-opener. where was the vaunted american volunteerism?

to put it bluntly, is such a country -- apparently racist -- worth looking up to? or allying with? perhaps for tactical alliances, but indians better be careful, especially now that india is (according to the pew survey a few weeks ago) the only country which has a positive opinion of america. no point hitching india's bandwagon to a fading power. did that already with the soviets, and it didn't help india that much. of course the alternative is much worse: allying with china, the least ethical and most imperialistic of powers.

the choices are pretty bleak. all in all, i'd prefer it if the americans got their act together again, since americans on average are really good people individually. but they have to go to fewer wars, really.

it's a sad 9/11 anniversary. september is the cruelest month. beslan anniversary. katrina's fury. and america, which i personally am very fond of, not looking like a world-beater any more.

I have been reading your column in the rediff website over the last few years. Your latest contribution on the subject of the hurricane that had recently affected the state of Louisiana, you have wondered what we in India will do if a cyclone of a similar force were to strike the east coast.

I quote: "And what might happen if a similar hurricane hits India's east coast? Evacuating, and even more challengingly, caring for, a half million people, is clearly beyond the capabilities of any civic administration: the US National Guard -- perhaps depleted by postings to Iraq -- has failed signally in doing this in Louisiana. What plans does India have in place for such an eventuality?"

Even though your articles reflect a greater than average affinity for India, I was surprised by your observation. You may like to study a portion of the contents of a report "pasted" below and also like to study a complete chapter of a bigger report on a subject, where you apparently have some misgivings. These two pieces give a reasonable idea of where we are headed and what we are capable of.

In May 1990, the latest cyclone which swept several districts had higher wind speeds, reaching 220-250 kmph. Every cyclone takes its toll of human and animal lives and damages private property in the form of houses and household effects, and public property including roads, buildings and irrigation tanks; many acres of crops get damaged and the fields sand-silted. The cyclone of 1977 took such a large toll of human lives (exceeding 10,000) that the Government was moved to take long-term measures. The cyclone shelters, numbering nearly five hundred which have been constructed in all the districts along the coast, came as great saviours of human life and the death toll was contained below 1,000 this time in spite of the higher severity of the cyclone. Unfortunately, cattle could not be protected in the same way.

Extracted from: The concept of cyclone shelters for livestock by A V S Reddy National Institute of Rural Development Rajendra-Nagar, HYDERABAD 500030, India

One can understand the somewhat soft tone of your latest article given the immense damage that has been caused to human society in the state of Louisiana. We Indians, about whom you are rightly proud, have a way of going about things in a sedate manner, without a million lights flashing away. I am sure we will be able to survive and thrive through many more troubles and tribulations destined for us.

I found these links from a speech by Dr. Subramania Swamy about the Kanchi Shankaracharya arrest, thought you might find it interesting and might find it suitable to post on your blog.

-- P.S.S

hearing the sample video speech of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, large number of devotees requested us to load the whole video of his speech in New Jersey on July 23rd, 2005.This speech is in English and has been divided into three easy parts.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy deals in the First Part as to how the case was foisted on the Kanchi Acharyas and Kanchi Mutt

yes, bangladesh the nation of extreme mohammedan fundamentalists. the new model for us, yeah right.

if their population isn't growing that dramatically, it just means that their people are migrating into west bengal and the rest of india. it's no infiltration, it's a full-scale invasion.

if their textile exports go to hell in a handbasket, india has to take their excess population? if their country goes underwater after a major cyclone, india has to take them as refugees? i don't think so. the sooner solid walls can be set up the better. remember, they wanted to secede from india, so let them now eat cake, as marie antoinette would put it.

jairam ramesh has latched on to them after raving about china in a book about his new creation named 'chindia'. i thought he was awfully bhai-bhai optimistic about chinese cooperation.

recent demographic data i saw suggested that the average bangladeshi woman is having 3.46 live births (as compared to 3.01 in india) and that the growth rate in population is 2.02% there (as opposed to 1.51% in india).

ps. i have a detailed article on the great game of energy between india and china in that issue of la vanguardia, and brahma has one on conflict in asia. it's in spanish which i dont quite understand. i think they did a good job of translating from english. it sure looks good.

I am not from the left but I feel a poor Bangladesh is a bigger threat to India than a stable and prosperous one. With its cheap energy and low salaries, it can be our manufacturing base for cheap garments to take on China globally. Indian companies should hire more women there and improve their lot.=============================================================This article has been sent to you by Girish =============================================================Source: The Hindu ( http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/09/09/stories/2005090903201100.htm)

Opinion -News Analysis&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bangla lessons for Hindi belt

Jairam Ramesh

In certain crucial aspects of social welfare and development, Bangladesh has done better than India.

THE UNITED Nations Development Programme's annual Human Development Report for 2005 has just been released. This is the sixteenth in a series made popular all over the world by the Pakistani economist, Mahbub ul Haq, and Amartya Sen. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure that incorporates into one index (i) life expectancy, (ii) adult literacy and gross enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary education, and (iii) per capita income. Each year, the report has been ranking countries on this measure.

The 2005 report places India at 127th out of 177 countries (as of 2003) and China at 85th. Sri Lanka is 93rd. There is an overarching theme to every report and this year it is aid, trade, and security in an unequal world.

There is nothing startlingly new in these rankings. But this year what is new is the revelation on Bangladesh, which emerges as the "hero" of the report. Although Bangladesh is ranked 139th on HDI, four places below Pakistan, the pace of its achievement in some crucial areas is indeed remarkable. The rich data presented in the UNDP report shows that over the past three decades, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Bangladesh has fallen from 6.2 to 3.2 while in India the reduction has been from 5.4 to 3.1.A Bangladeshi woman is now having, on an average, a fewer number of children than her counterpart in a number of Indian States, notably Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. In child mortality (that is, the number of deaths of children below the age of 5 per 1000), Bangladesh has moved from 239 to 69 over the past three decades, whereas India has moved from 202 to 87. Bangladesh's achievement in this regard is superior to that of States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, and Haryana and compares favourably with what has been accomplished in Gujarat, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, the crown jewels of Indian globalisation.

The point is simple and stark. Bangladesh is poorer than India. Its economic growth performance is markedly inferior to that of India. It is not on the highway of `superpowerdom' as India is. Yet, in certain crucial aspects of social welfare and development, it has done better than India. At lower levels and rates of economic development, its record of achievement in areas like fertility and child mortality particularly has been decidedly superior. If Bangladesh can do all this, surely the more favourably endowed north Indian States can replicate its success.

The Bangladesh-India juxtapositioning is somewhat like the Kerala-Gujarat comparison within India. Kerala has stunning levels of social development in an environment of low economic growth. Gujarat has China-like economic growth rates but its achievements in social sectors have lagged behind those of Kerala in substantial measure.

What accounts for Bangladesh's accomplishments? Three reasons suggest themselves. First, it might be argued that Bangladesh is simply exporting its poverty to India, especially to our Northeast. But even assuming the most exaggerated figures of so-called Bangladeshi `infiltration,' the fact remains that those who seek their fortunes in India account for 5 to 6 per cent of Bangladesh's own population. Secondly, it might appear that Bangladesh's data are being exaggerated by the donor community; foreign aid now accounts for over 50 per cent of its annual development budget and a cynical view could well be that international agencies have a vested interest in showing Bangladesh in positive light. However, such doctoring on such scale would surely not have gone unnoticed or uncaught somewhere by some sceptic or critic.

This leaves a third explanation &#151; that indeed something dramatic is happening in Bangladesh, which we vaguely understand, something triggered perhaps by the self-help group revolution and by the vast NGO activity in social service delivery.

It is symptomatic of the neglect of Bangladesh in India both in political and intellectual circles that its activities in health, education, nutrition, and social capital building have gone unheralded and unanalysed here.

Bangladesh hits the headlines in India for other reasons. But the real reason why it should be hitting the headlines is that, in spite of a deeply divided political system and in spite of the growth of religious fanaticism, it has moved ahead of North India on such fundamentals as fertility and mortality. It faces new challenges: the abolition of the quota system in textile imports by developed countries could cause major job losses in Bangladesh even as India gains significantly. This, in turn, has larger security implications for us.

India helped create Bangladesh. The national anthems of the two countries are by the same poet. But subsequently, the bilateral relationship has deteriorated sharply. The responsibility for this unfortunate turn of events has to be divided equally between the two sides. A little bit of humility on our part would not be out of place. Acknowledging Bangladesh's progress in social development and making an attempt to learn from it for North India particularly would be a good confidence-building measure on our part, just as we take steps to reduce the huge surplus of trade in our favour.

(Jairam Ramesh, a Congress MP, is also a Member of the National Advisory Council.)

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